Dave Feit's Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 33 - Forrest Behm

The summer after he graduated from high school, Behm worked a construction job for the telephone company - digging ditches and lugging poles. The long days of physical labor helped strengthen his leg - and everything else. A friend convinced to register at the university and talked him into trying out for the football team. "We'll have a lot of laughs," his friend told him.

At Nebraska, Behm tried to walk on to the football team. Freshman Coach A.J. Lewandowski loved his size (at the time, only a handful of players in school history matched his 6-foot-4, 200-pound frame).

But there was a problem: Behm needed size-15 shoes. The university didn't have anything that big. And in the midst of the Great Depression, NU wasn’t willing to buy them. Nebraska's equipment manager told Behm he wouldn't be able to play.

Behm asked what if bought his own shoes? The staff had no objection to that. Behm had to work most of the summer to afford the his kangaroo skin cleats, but he was on the team.

In his first varsity game, (against a very good Minnesota team), Behm suffered a broken nose and twisted knee. He questioned if football was the game for him. But he persisted.

After that, things got a little easier for Behm. He was an honor student, a Cadet Colonel in the ROTC, and was voted class president. Heck, he even sang in the college choir.

In the summers he worked days shoveling concrete on what is now known as Cornhusker Highway. At night, he unloaded 100-pound bags of sugar from a train and stacked them in a warehouse.

In 1940 (Behm's senior year), Behm and Nebraska had their best season ever. Behm was an all-conference and All-America selection. Biff Jones's Cornhuskers rebounded from an opening-game loss to Minnesota and rattled off eight straight victories, winning the Big Six Conference. As one of the top teams in the nation (they were ranked seventh in the AP poll), Nebraska was invited to the Rose Bowl* - the first bowl bid in school history.

*Stanford - the No. 2 team in the country - was the first choice of the Rose Bowl. As such, they had the right to select their opponent. Stanford wanted No. 1 Minnesota, but the Gophers declined. However, they did recommend the Nebraska team they had defeated to start the season.

Once again, things weren't easy. Some members of the Nebraska Board of Regents were skeptical about the trip. They feared it would send a message that athletics were more important than the academic mission of the university.*

As class president, Behm was in these meetings. Behm asked the room, "What are you going to tell people when you go home and say you turned down an invitation to the Rose Bowl?" The bowl bid was accepted.

*The fears of those regents may have been valid. "We were studying for finals and (the bowl bid) came out on the radio," said Herm Rohrig, a senior halfback. "Naturally, we got rid of the books in a hurry." Classes were canceled the following day as students took to the downtown streets in celebration.

The team traveled west via train in mid-December, stopping in Phoenix to practice in a warmer climate. A snowy winter had made workouts in Lincoln a challenge. At the time, there was no indoor practice facility. The money NU received from its Rose Bowl appearance - $140,916 - was used toward the construction of what would become known as Schulte Fieldhouse at the north end of Memorial Stadium.

Before a bowl practice in Phoenix, Behm was lying on the side of the field stretching. Two players were fooling around, and one of them stepped on Behm's hip, causing a severe injury. Behm could barely stand, let alone put weight on it. But he still played half of the game, albeit very limited.

Stanford was the first college team to run the T-formation offense, a system Nebraska had never seen before. Despite that, Nebraska scored first and led 13-7 in the second quarter. However, Stanford scored to take a 14-13 lead into the half. In the second half, the Husker offense could not move the ball. A dazzling Stanford punt-return touchdown was a demoralizing blow for the Big Red. Nebraska lost its first bowl game 21-13.

Even though the Cornhuskers lost, the game firmly put Nebraska on the map in college football.

After the Rose Bowl, Forrest Behm graduated, married his college sweetheart (they were together 61 years when she passed), served in the Army Signal Corps, became the president of Corning Glass, and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Behm was of the greatest Huskers ever, with a life straight out of a movie.

Related: 2005 HuskerMax interview.

***

Thankfully, Javin Wright has not had to endure all of the pain and suffering of Forrest Behm. But Wright certainly knows a lot about medical hardships - definitely more than most of his college football peers.

The son of former Blackshirt and NFL defensive back Toby Wright, Javin came to Nebraska with high expectations. Unfortunately, a series of blood clots in the legs kept him off the field until 2022, his fourth year at Nebraska.

Once Javin Wright was healthy enough to get on the field, he began to shine. He blocked a punt in 2022 and saw significant playing time. Wright had a breakout year in 2023. He played in every game and finished with 51 tackles, two interceptions, a half sack and a forced fumble.

The stage was set for a sensational senior season. Unfortunately, an undisclosed medical condition sidelined him for the first four games of the 2024 season and limited his impact when he returned. He played the best game of his career in the 2024 Pinstripe Bowl, with a career-high eight tackles.

Javin Wright's story is not yet complete. He was granted a medial waiver that will allow him to compete for an unprecedented seventh college season in 2025 - the first Husker to do so.

In the spring of 2025, he said "I'm going to make it. I'm going to achieve the goal that I set out to have since I was six years old. If that means risking my life to play the game, I will do that." I'll be honest: I don't fully understand that mindset, but I have a ton of respect for those who are truly willing to sacrifice everything for something they love.

I'll be cheering for Javin Wright to put his medical issues behind him and have the ending to his career that he wants.

He, like Behm, has earned a happy ending.